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A review by magalis
Ring by Kōji Suzuki
slow-paced
1.5
Not my strongest October read. I have to admit, I didn't actually intend to read this one this year. I had put what I thought was the Japanese movie version on hold at the library, but what came in was the book instead (my bad! You'd think I'd be able to navigate a library catalog, but apparently not). I figured since I didn't have a definite October book this year anyway, I might as well just read this one!
The story itself could have been really good, but the pacing is incredibly slow. It's more of a mystery than a horror novel, which I wasn't really expecting. You would think that since the majority of the book takes place in just a week that things would move along fairly quickly, but I didn't feel like that was the case at all. This could have been a translation issue I suppose, but it made it feel like a chore to pick this up and read it.
I also didn't find the two main protagonists to be sympathetic or likeable at all. Asakawa started out alright, but was just incredibly mean to/about his wife and daughter, and then was transphobic and a rape apologist. Ryuji was literally a rapist who told Asakawa about the women he raped and clearly showed no remorse. I honestly didn't care if either of them survived until the end. The majority of the mystery-solving was also just Asakawa following a gut instinct that turns out to be right, not a lot of legitimate detective-work.
I don't regret having read this, but I don't have much of an interest in continuing this series or reading more by the author.
The story itself could have been really good, but the pacing is incredibly slow. It's more of a mystery than a horror novel, which I wasn't really expecting. You would think that since the majority of the book takes place in just a week that things would move along fairly quickly, but I didn't feel like that was the case at all. This could have been a translation issue I suppose, but it made it feel like a chore to pick this up and read it.
I also didn't find the two main protagonists to be sympathetic or likeable at all. Asakawa started out alright, but was just incredibly mean to/about his wife and daughter, and then was transphobic and a rape apologist. Ryuji was literally a rapist who told Asakawa about the women he raped and clearly showed no remorse. I honestly didn't care if either of them survived until the end. The majority of the mystery-solving was also just Asakawa following a gut instinct that turns out to be right, not a lot of legitimate detective-work.
I don't regret having read this, but I don't have much of an interest in continuing this series or reading more by the author.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape, Sexism, and Transphobia